Austrian exchange student competes on Monroe varsity wrestling team

There?s no crying in wrestling. Monroe coach Don Mayes was surprised when he looked over and saw tears in the eyes of one of his wrestlers at practice.

Niles Kruger

There?s no crying in wrestling.

Monroe coach Don Mayes was surprised when he looked over and saw tears in the eyes of one of his wrestlers at practice.

True, this wrestler was a girl, but Mayes still did not expect to see crying on the mat.

But the tears had nothing to do with Victoria Schlinder being female. They welled up because she is such an intense competitor.

?At one of our early practices, she hyperextended an elbow,? Mayes recalls. ?She was trying to fight through it, but we pulled her off the mat. I saw her start tearing up. She just wanted to be on the mat and wanted to learn. That kind of attitude is unbelievable.?

That kind of attitude has helped Schindler earn the respect of her Trojan teammates.

The exchange student from Austria has earned a starting spot in the Monroe varsity lineup at 112 pounds and is more than holding her own.

?We call her the Austrian Assassin,? said senior Alex Blake, one of the team?s three captains. ?It?s funny. She walks out there and guys think, ?I?ve got a girl.? They don?t know that she is a good wrestler.?

?She?s very aggressive. She never gives up,? added freshman Carl Antrassian, Monroe?s starter at 103 pounds who often battles Schindler in practice. ?She is relentless. She works very hard.?

Schindler is new to this country, but not new to wrestling. She has been on the mat since the age of 6.

?My dad is a wrestling coach and my two uncles wrestle,? she said. ?My two grandfathers coached wrestling.?

Her father, Mario, coaches an international men?s team in Austria. One of his wrestlers made it to the Olympic Games.

Victoria has competed extensively in Europe. She placed 8th in the women?s 46 kg weight division of the European Cadet Championships in Warsaw, Poland in August of 2011.

?I didn?t know what to expect,? Mayes said of what he thought when he heard a female exchange student would be joining his team. ?Then I heard she placed eighth at the European International Championships for juniors.?

Blake and his teammates also heard during the summer that a girl would be joining the team.

?I wasn?t leery about it,? he said. ?I am the kind of person who is cool with new stuff. I was kind of excited about it. It?s an all-guys sport here. There are some girls who join, but they are not really good. Actually, Vici tries really hard and is getting so much better.?

The first time Mayes saw Schindler on the mat, he knew she could help his team.

?Her competitive nature was evident,? the coach said. ?She?s a hard worker on the mat.?

That work ethic has been essential for Schindler.

Not only has she been forced to adapt to a new culture, she also is learning a new style of wrestling. Schindler wrestles freestyle events in Europe. She had to learn the intricacies of folkstyle wrestling in the United States.

Some of the moves she uses back home do not work here. Locking hands, for instance, is a staple of freestyle wrestling. It results in a penalty point in folkstyle.

?It was hard on her at the beginning, but she is catching on,? Antrassian said.

She is catching on because of hard work.

?She is hungry to learn our style of wrestling,? Mayes said. ?Her hunger for knowledge is impressive. I wish the rest of our wrestlers had that kind of hunger.?

Even with her extensive wrestling background and outstanding work ethic, there was another major obstacle for Schindler to overcome when she arrived in America.

?Usually I wrestle girls at home,? she said. ?Here, I have to wrestle guys.?

Her opponents have learned that she is not just a girl. She?s a very capable wrestler.

?She has won some big matches for us,? Mayes said. ?She struggles against guys who are strong and have good technique. She beat kids who are strong but don?t have good technique or who have good technique, but are not strong. The combination sets her back. She has done well, better than expectations.?

Schindler?s record sits at 16-23. The biggest moment may have come in Monroe?s Southeastern Conference opener against Ann Arbor Pioneer.

The Trojans trailed 32-30 with two matches remaining. Her 8-3 victory gave Monroe the lead, then Jordan Hagar finished off the win with a pin.

?She has gone out there and gotten us a lot of team points,? Antrassian said.

?Her record is pretty impressive considering she came from Austria, had to change styles and is wrestling at a D 1 school,? Blake added. ?She had to switch everything.?

Schindler, who hails from the town of Mörbisch near the Hungarian border, has enjoyed her time in Monroe.

?I like the team spirit and the school,? she said. ?Back home, we don?t have school teams, just clubs. ? I wanted to improve my English, have a new experience and know another culture. I like everything about it.?

Mayes says she has become a valuable member of the team.

Mayes believes her time in Monroe will help Schindler in the future.

?Her plan is to go back to Austria and continue her wrestling,? he said. ?Her dad is excited about the training she received here. He was here a few weeks ago and could not believe how strong she has gotten. She is a senior here, but she is only 16 years old. She will take this experience back home and continue her international wrestling.?

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